Kickstarter

If you haven't had your fill yet of cyberpunk computer games, particularly from the Shadowrun setting, then it's time to do a happy dance. Harebrained Schemes has once again taken to everyone's favorite crowdfunding platform to help extend its next game's scope. Taking place in a magically awakened Hong Kong of 2056, Shadowrun: Hong Kong is the third Shadowrun-based computer game from the developer and its second to hit Kickstarter. And despite some negative feedback, it seems that this will be a funding success as well.

ZPM’s PID-controlled espresso machine sounded too good to be true. Billed as “a home espresso machine that provides commercial quality temperature and pressure consistency at an affordable price”, the Kickstarter easily blasted through their $20,000 goal on the way to just under $370,000 in funding. That was three years ago, almost to the day. As backers waited, the company dragged their heels on delivery. Via an update to backers, we learn they’re ditching the product altogether, and won’t be issuing refunds.

Home automation. More than a few options exist at this point, allowing consumers to be more picky about what they want, and among it all is a desire for products that are both attractive and able to offer extensive support for one's existing hardware. Cue the NEEO, a two-part home automation system that aims to satisfy both of those demands, doing so with with a "brain" and remote and support for thousands of gadgets. All the while, the device brings with it a sleek design.

Nowadays, anything that can be made smarter is getting a facelift, from watches, to smoke detectors, and now to luggages. While we've seen our fair share of these smart traveling companions, like the BlueSmart connected carry-on a few months back, this Trunkster Kickstarter seems to promise all that and more. In addition to GPS tracking and a built-in weighing scale, these luggages also offer a new and fancy "zipperless" door design as well as something every mobile user wished they had at an airport: a high capacity charger.

3Doodler was the surprise hit of 2013, a handheld 3D drawing pen capable of sketching physical objects using concepts borrowed from 3D printers, and now the team is back with version two. 3Doodler 2.0 is a complete rework of the original, swapping the plastic casing for a trimmer aluminum form-factor, dropping its weight to 50g, and running longer than before with the promise of more precise plastic ink extrusion.

By this point, 3D printing pens aren't anything new. We've seen different versions of them, including the 3Doodler pen that hit Kickstarter back in 2013. Now the crowdfunding website is home to a similar device, one that promises to trump all of its competitors via the inclusion of an integrated blue light. With this blue light, the Polyes Q1 3D printing pen's photo-polymer "ink" is cured quickly for a safer three dimensional drawing experience, improving upon the ABS/PLA materials used by alternatives.

Photographers that like to take images of subjects that require fast activation of the shutter to get the picture may have worked with a high-speed camera trigger before. A new camera trigger has debuted that claims to be a world's first. It is called the CamsFormer and it has a bunch of features that users will enjoy including a high-speed trigger, sensors, wireless control, remote live view, pan, tilt, and zoom.

It's surely too late to think about getting this item as a Christmas gift, but the last-minute Kickstarter funding of the keyboard waffle iron is definitely proof that Christmas miracles exist. With funding set at $50,000, the deadline for Chris Dimino's unique breakfast food accessory was Christmas Eve, and the situation didn't look good. However, due to a last-minute push from backers, the keyboard waffle iron was successfully funded as of Christmas morning, having raised over $66,000.

We've seen a variety of Bluetooth trackers, some of them with adhesive backs, others with clips or no attachments of any type. Hiro is similar in many ways, but with a different design, being shaped like a dog tag -- though slightly smaller in size. As with a dog tag, there is a hole in the tracker for attaching a lanyard or a key ring, and the device itself allows users to keep tabs on their stuff using a smartphone and related app (iOS and Android).

Smart products tailored to runners have been cropping up, including the Bionic Runner bike that combines running and cycling into a single hybrid activity. The latest to surface for the marathons among us are the Stridalyzer smart insoles, something users slip into their running shoes. Data from a running session is sent to a related mobile app, which shows stress points, whether the runner has a potentially harmful foot strike habit, pacing, and more. As a bonus, and despite the integrated sensors, the insoles can also be trimmed up to a full shoe size to ensure they fit.